In general, inkjet printers include at least one printhead that ejects drops of liquid ink onto recording media or a surface of an image receiving member. In an indirect or offset printer, the inkjets eject ink onto the surface of the image receiving member, such as a rotating metal drum or endless belt, and then the image is transferred to print media. In a direct printer, the inkjets eject ink directly onto the media, which may be in sheet or continuous web form. A phase change inkjet printer employs phase change inks that are solid at ambient temperature, but transition to a liquid phase at an elevated temperature. Once the melted ink is ejected onto the media or image receiving member, depending upon the type of printer, the ink droplets quickly solidify to form an ink image.
Printers typically conduct various maintenance operations to ensure proper operation of the inkjets in each printhead. One known maintenance operation removes particles or other contaminants that may interfere with printing operations from each printhead in a printer. During such a cleaning maintenance operation, a pneumatic fluid, such as air, is forced into the printheads to purge ink through some or all of the inkjets in the printhead. The purged ink flows from the apertures of the inkjets that are located in a faceplate of each printhead onto the faceplate of each printhead. The ink flows downwardly under the effect of gravity to an ink drip bib mounted at the lower edge of the faceplate. The bib is configured with one or more multiple drip points where the liquid ink collects and drips into an ink receptacle. One or more wipers are manipulated to contact the faceplate of each printhead and wipe the purged ink toward the drip bib to facilitate the collection and removal of the purged ink.
Some printers have been equipped with a flexure chute that is moved into contact with the faceplate below the apertures during a cleaning operation. The chute is used to deflect purged and/or wiped ink away from the faceplate and into a catch tray. While this system sufficiently removes ink from the aperture area of the faceplate, a line of ink (i.e., witness line) may remain on the faceplate surface of the printhead where the flexure chute contacts the faceplate. This witness line of residual ink accumulates further with time and repeated maintenance cycles. Eventually, the accumulated ink can run down the drip bib surface and coalesce at the drip points or be forced onto the aperture area of the faceplate by airflow caused by print media moving past the printhead. Accumulated ink at the drip points may eventually freeze and fall into the paper path where it can impact print quality and potentially cause damage to printheads. Thus, improved systems and methods for preventing the accumulation of purged ink on the faceplates of printheads are desirable.